


It Hurts For Me To Breathe

by FanficFanatic1



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
Genre: Abuse, Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 20:08:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17835329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanficFanatic1/pseuds/FanficFanatic1
Summary: Yo, I suck at descriptions, so you don't get one.





	1. Beats Me

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, this is a little thing I also wrote in my book on Wattpad, so this may seem a little familiar, or word for word the exact same, but it's all my original ideas, so no copyright matters to deal with, no worries.

Mr. Meaner POV

I walk to my office in the boys' locker room, deep in thought. 

George Beard and Harold Hutchins need to be stopped. They should have been expelled years ago for pulling that phony ghost prank on the principal's nephew. But instead they get a free pass because Krupp blacks out whenever he gets close to getting rid of them! It makes my blood boil. Why-

My thoughts get interrupted when I open my office door and millions of tiny pink bubbles attack me. As soon as I gather what exactly what just happened, I feel the anger within me rising and the hate for two certain boys grows enormously. My face heats up and my hands ball in to fists.

No one's POV

George and Harold snickered as they waited outside the boys' locker room where they had seen Mr. Meaner walk to, and where they had just set up their latest prank.They heard the door to the office open and the slight yelp-like noise come from the office. 

Harold peeked his head into the locker room and saw the angry gym teacher's face turn red and his fists shake in pure hatred. 

"Uh-oh.." he muttered as he looked at George who skillfully tossed the last bubble bath container into the bin.

"GEORGE!!!! HAROLD!!!!" 

The two show themselves nervously, trying their best to look inoccent. 

"You two are in big trouble!! WHY did you monsters fill my office with BUBBLE BATH!!!??" The boys flinch at Mr. Meaner's tone.

"Because it was funny..at the time.." Harold spoke up. "We were bored and, well..we have most of our prank ideas for the gym, and..we-" The pissed off gym teacher backhands Harold across the face, his nails cutting his cheek in two places. George gasps and Harold stands there, stunned for a few seconds before putting a hand to the cuts, wincing.

"You two are coming with me!!" Mr. Meaner bellowed while grabbing George by his arm and Harold by his hair. "You need to be taught a lesson!!" Mr. Meaner drops George and Harold in the center of the gym floor before going to get something from the gym supply closet. 

George puts a hand on his friend's shoulder in attempt to comfort him. The tears in Harold's eyes betrayed his fear and pain as Mr. Meaner came back with the full dodge ball cart, a tennis racket, and a Dodge Ball Shooter 2000, courtesy of Melvin.

As Mr. Meaner set up the equipment, George looks at his friend with worry clear on his face. 

"Harold, are you okay?" George whispered to Harold who was visibly shaking. "Hey, what's wrong?" Harold seemed to be in his own world, almost like he was in a trance, hardly even breathing. "C'mon, answer me." George said, more frantically. When Harold finally looks at George, it's with glassy eyes. "Are you okay?" After a moment of staring, Harold speaks with a shakey voice. 

"N-no.." George's heart skips a beat. "..how is this okay?" He gestures to his cheek and the bruise that began taking form on George's arm. "This isn't okay, George." Mr. Meaner stomps up to the boys with an evil grin. 

"Are you two useless slumps ready?" He asked, making the two huddle into one another out of fear. He looks at Harold's face and grins. "That'll leave a mark. A nice reminder of what happens when you mess with me." 

Harold shivers at the thought of the scars that would be left on his cheek. 

Mr. Meaner walks over to his set up and angles it at George. Then he takes the tennis racket and walks over to Harold. He drags him to the other side of the gym, making both of the boys begin to take heavier breaths. The two had grown so attached, that when they were separated in school, they would develop anxiety until being reunited. This was certainly no exception.

Mr. Meaner walks back over to the machine and turns it on, dodge balls shooting at George at rapid speed. 

"Don't move, Beard!" George stood perfectly still, letting the rock hard dodge balls hit him over and over again. Mr. Meaner then walks back over to a horrified Harold and begins wacking him with the tennis racket, starting on the arms, only, but gradually moving to his face, as well.

This abuse went on for what felt like hours. Because it did. It had been 3 hours of this torture, and George and Harold were gaining bruises, Harold earning another backhand from Mr. Meaner every time he yelled out in pain or shed a tear.

The school bell rings, which marks the end of the day, and Mr. Meaner stops smacking Harold and goes to turn off the dodge ball machine.

George, ignoring his bruised body, rushes to his friend's side. Before he gets there, Harold collapses after attempting to take a step towards George and groans in pain from the cuts and bruises all over his body.

"Now, I can't keep you after school without a legal reason, so go home and remember what happens when you prank me!!" Mr. Meaner yells at the two hurt children in front of him.

George helps Harold up, slinging his arm over his shoulders before making the walk home, slowly.

Before they even leave the gym, Harold starts coughing up blood into the floor, falling out of George's grip and landing on his hands and knees. 

"Harold!" George gets down on his own knees, waiting for Harold to be ready to go home and rest in the tree house, though he tried his best not to look at the blood. Harold's lung burned in a familiar spot.

After a solid 5 minutes of agony for the two boys and pure joy from the gym teacher, Harold tries standing up. He succeeds, but George still decides it best for Harold not to walk all the way home without help, so puts his arm around him and puts Harold's arm over his shoulders again.

"Where do you think your going!?" Mr. Meaner stomps up in front of them as they reach the doors. 

"Um..home. like you told us to." George replies, obviously not very scared of the teacher at the moment. 

"Oh, no you don't! I mean, George, you can, but Harold just made a mess on school property, not on school ours! That's vandalism! He needs to clean it up! Then he can go home." George stares up at the man with complete shock. 

"But-, but-, he- you- he's- that was-... you hurt him! So technically, you vandalized, not Harold! He couldn't control what he was doing! He didn't want to!" Harold coughs again, this time into his hand to catch the blood. "What is your problem!? You hurt me and my best friend, just because we pranked you, and make Harold clean up his own blood after already suffering enough from coughing it up!? That's messed. Up. You should be ashamed!!" George finishes, voice rising at the end. Mr. Meaner scoffs before pushing the boys towards the doors. 

"Fine! Go! But when that blood stains, I expect Harold to clean it!" George says nothing and guides him and Harold home. 

When the two get there, instead of going strait to the tree house, they went to Harold's house to let his mom know what happened and to get some help. 

When George opens the door to the house, he calls for Harold's mom. 

"MS. HUTCHINS! MS. HUTCHINS! HAROLD NEEDS HELP!" He yells into the nearly empty house. Instead of a blonde adult female, a blonde 6 year old female walks down the stairs. It was Harold's little sister, Heidi. "Heidi, where's your mom?" She shrugs, paying no regards to her brother who was just holding on to consciousness. 

"She has work, today.." Harold mumbles. George thinks for a moment, glancing down at his friend.

"Then, we'll go to my mom! Heidi, come with us. I think it's, like, illegal or something for a 6 year old to be home alone." Heidi pouts as she follows George to his house to get his mom. 

They walk in and Mrs. Beard is sitting on the couch, enjoying her day off. 

"MOOOOM!" When she sees the bruises on her son, she instantly rushes to the three children.

"George, what happened!?" He looks at Harold with worry. 

"I'll tell you later, right now, Harold needs help." The skeptical mother picks the two boys up and carries them to the couch, putting George and a now uncouncious Harold down on it.

"Why don't you explain while I bandage Harold up and get you an ice pack?" George nods and waits for his mother to come back from getting the ice pack from their freezer. Mrs. Beard came back and handed her son the ice pack before grabbing the first-aid kit from the closet and coming back over again.

While George explains everything that happened at school with Mr. Meaner, Mrs. Beard holds in her anger and bandages all of Harold's bleeding injures.

"And then, we came here with Heidi." George finishes his rambling and Mrs. Beard finishes with Harold. 

"I think Harold's mom, Mr. Meaner, Mr. Krupp and I need to have a little chat!"

Later

Harold opens his eyes and doesn't feel any pain. Until he sits up. His lung hurts in a particular place, and he knew that wasn't good. He looks around and realises he's on George's couch. With a closer look, he sees his best friend asleep on the spot next to him. 

George's mother walks in and seems surprised to see Harold awake. 

"Oh, you're awake! Well, that's good. George was so worried." Mrs. Beard came over and sat next to her son. 

"What happened?" Harold asked with, surprisingly, no rasp or difficulty.

"Based on what George told told me, your gym teacher beat you two up until school ended and George brought you here. Don't you remember?" Everything comes back to the blonde boy like a tidal wave. Then he realises something. 

"Where's Heidi!?" He starts panicking and looking around the dim living room. 

"Relax, I sent her home. I made sure she was asleep before I left her. And I called your mom and told her what happened." Harold sighs and relaxes against the back of the couch, feeling relieved that his sister wasn't getting into trouble. 

"What time is it?" Harold asks, wondering if he should be getting home or not. 

"Only 4:00. You're okay. You can stay here until your mom gets home from work." Harold sighs again. 

"Thank you.." He mumbles, feeling tired all of a sudden.

He closes his eyes and drifts off into sleep.


	2. You Really Wanna Know?

It had been a week since the incident with Mr. Meaner, and today was the day that George and Harold's parents got together with Mr. Meaner and Mr. Krupp. 

George's bruises had mostly healed, only a few left on his chest, where the dodge balls hit him most, and one on his elbow. Harold was healing, too, a few cuts still on his face from the first backhand, and a few others scattered around his body, and couple bruises left, but there was one main injury he still had that got him concerned for himself.

George and Harold had asked their parents to take them to the meeting with Mr. Krupp and Mr. Meaner, to which, they agreed.

The Beard family was waiting outside for the Hutchins family, minus Heidi. Before long, Ms. Hutchins and Harold came out of their house, with Heidi, which confused all three of the Beards. 

"Why is Heidi coming along?" Mrs. Beard asked Ms. Hutchins. 

"She isn't. We're going to drop her off at the babysitter's on the way. She lives next to the school, so it'll only take a few minutes." The blonde lady replied. Mrs. Beard nods and the party of 6 start their trek down the street. George and Harold went a little ahead so they could talk out of the earshot of the others. 

"How are your bruises?" Harold asked his friend. George shrugs. 

"Eh. Just a few left. How about your cuts?" Harold points at the half scars half cuts on his cheek. 

"Scarring." 

"Do they still hurt?" Harold nods. 

"Yeah. But mom says they're healing." George chuckles a little at his friend's sarcastic tone. "But, the one on my arm doesn't hurt as much today, so that's something!" The blonde boy added, making both him and George laugh. 

Harold winses at the pain in his lung and coughs a few drops of blood into his hand. 

"You okay?" George asks, concerned. 

"Yeah, I'm fine.." George wasn't entirely convinced, but decided to let it slide until after the meeting.

Harold's mom had been watching the boys, but couldn't hear them until her son said something to make them laugh. The laughter also caught the attention of the married couple walking along side her. 

"What are those boys up to? This is a serious matter. Why are they having so much fun?" Mr. Beard asked no one. 

"Does it matter? They're not too upset about this to be someone they aren't. That's all that matters." Ms. Hutchins replied, sounding as if she was in her own world. Mrs. Beard notices this and looks at her small, almost sorrowful, smile. 

"Are you alright?" Ms. Hutchins nodded. 

"Yeah. I'm okay. It's just..before my husband left, Harold was so excited and confident. Then, when Ken stormed out that night, he became so closed off and shy. He didn't believe like he used to..he fell into a depression..his grades dropped. Even though it was Kindergarden, he found it difficult to keep up in class...it was even worse to get him to wake up each morning...every day he became more and more distant...he stopped laughing....he stopped smiling.." The Beard couple look at the gleeful 10 year old in front of them, wearing one of the biggest smiles they've ever seen in such a small boy.

"I had horrible dreams of my baby doing things he shouldn't..i could tell by the way his face was covered in tears in the mornings that he would spend most of the night crying and wishing for his dad to come back.. But when he met your son..it was like my little boy came back..he came home with the biggest smile that day. I saw the familiar sparkle in his eyes that I missed so much. Even Heidi seemed ecstatic and she was only a year old. I never saw those distant, dull eyes ever again. And I'm glad.." Ms. Hutchins wiped at the tears that had escaped her eyes. "I'm just really happy to see him like this and not..how he was." 

The 2 families arrived in front of a nice little house, right next to the school. They walk up to the door and ring the bell. In a matter of minutes, the door opens and a teen girl chewing gum stands in the doorway. She looks at Harold, then George, then Heidi, then Mrs. Beard, then Mr. Beard, and, finally, Ms. Hutchins. Her face lights up all of a sudden. 

"Ah! You must be Ms. Hutchins! Come in! Come in!" The girl exclaims, stepping aside so the Beards and Hutchins can walk into the house. The inside is nicely decorated, despite the array of toys scattered around the living room. 

A young girl, about Heidi's age, comes down the stairs with a huge smile as she spots Heidi. "Heidi!" 

"Abby!" The two 6 year olds run to each other and start talking about their hair and what they were planning on doing over the day.

Ms. Hutchins chuckles. "I guess that's it, then. Make sure she doesn't get her hands on the sugar, it makes her crazy." The teen giggles. 

"Oh, I know. My sister is the same way. Your daughter is in great hands."

Suddenly, a noise emits from Ms. Hutchins' phone. She turns it off, and hurriedly walks to Heidi. "Heidi, it's time for Mommy to go, we're going to be late for the meeting. Be good, be polite, and don't. Eat. Sugar. Got it? Good! Bye, love you!" The 2 Hutchins and the 3 Beards leave the house in a hurry and burst through the school doors. Then the 3 adults realise something; they don't know where they're going. They haven't been to this school enough to know where anything is.

"Boys, lead the way." Mrs. Beard said, sheepishly to the two 4th graders in front of them. George nods and the two start walking toward the gym, the parents following.

When they get there, Harold glances over to where he had coughed up blood last week, and gulps when the memories flood his vision for a few seconds and winses, again. George noticed how on edge his friend was and turned to look at him. "Are you okay? You seem really tense." Harold gulps again and gives a wavery smile. 

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me! I just remembered I have to clean the blood off the floor, that's all." He lets out an obviously fake laugh but George lets it slide for now.

The Beard and Hutchins families waited in the center of the gym for about 10 minutes before Mr. Meaner walked through the doors and over to them. When he saw the single visible bruise on George and the cuts on Harold's arms, legs, and the two on his cheek, he smirked. 

"I really did a number on you two." He chuckles darkly. Harold shrinks on the spot and George gets ready to whip the crazy gym teacher with his tie, putting a protective arm in front of Harold. Mr. Meaner puts his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, now, you know I can't do anything to you. Not with your parents here. Not to mention it isn't school hours." George lowers his hand and Harold stands up more.

Harold's mom came over and put her arms around his neck from behind in a motherly way, carefully avoiding his scarring cheek.

"Mr. Meaner, you have no right to hurt our children on or off school hours."

"Oh, really, pretty lady?"

"Don't try to flatter me! You hurt my son! He's been through enough for his age, he doesn't need this, too!"

George gives Harold a confused look, only to see him look away, memories coming back to him all at once.

"How so?"

"I reserve my right to keep that information between me and him!"

"Sounds like you're lying to me, girly."

"I am not!"

"Prove it. What could he have possibly endured in the 10 years he's been alive?"

"Plenty can happen in 10 years!"

"Like what?"

"That's none of your business, sir!"

"I'd say that's up to Harold, not you."

Mr. Meaner looks down at a shaking Harold.

"What has happened to Harold Hutchins, the happiest kid in the school?"

George stands in between the gym teacher and Harold with his arms out, one holding his tie. "Backoff, Mr. Meaner!"

Just then, Mr. Krupp comes through the doors and sees George's stance, how terrified Harold looked, and how Mr. Meaner was bent down. 

"What's going on, here?" He demands, walking over. Mr. Meaner stands all the way up with an inoccent smile. 

"Oh, nothing, Ben. Everything's just peachy."

"He's lying!" Yells George, tying his tie back around his neck. "He's harassing Harold! And flirting with his mom!" 

"That's right. She's a lovely lady, and I just love how she stood up for herself!" Mr. Meaner wiggled his eyebrows at Ms. Hutchins, who blushes.

"Stop! Mr. Meaner, she is a married woman!" Mr. Krupp yells in the gym teacher's face. 

"Actually.." Harold speaks for the first time during this whole argument. "My parents are divorced." Mr. Krupp seems embarrassed, while Mr. Meaner grins like an idiot. 

"So that means she's free~" he says in a seductive voice, leaning over to Ms. Hutchins. She backhands him, sending him into a spinning motion. 

"Not to you!" She yells as the stunned teacher falls to the floor. 

"How do you like it, Mr. Meaner?" George asks in a sassy voice, making Harold and Mrs. Beard laugh.

~Time Skip~

When the meeting was over, it was decided that Mr. Meaner would be fired and George and Harold would have detention for the prank.

When they all got home, Harold went strait to his room. He looked at his wall, decorated with tacks and ticks under words. 

Under the word 'days', Harold erased the last tick.

Under the word 'comics', there were too many ticks to count.

Under the word 'strikes', Harold added the amount of winses from the day in chalk; 10. 10 winses over the day. It was getting worse and that scared him to no end.

Harold winces again and chalks another tally up to the score under Strikes.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can go on like this.." He admits to himself, just above a whisper. He walks over to his bed and hops up on it and looks out the window to George's bedroom. He grabs his walky-talky and pushes the button. "George?" Before long, his walky-talky makes a static noise and George's voice comes through. 

"You called?" 

"I need to talk to you. Meet me in the tree house." 

"Okay? Why?" 

"I'll tell you up there." 

"Fine.." 

Harold puts his walky-talky down on his nightstand and climbs out his window and down the side of his house. He runs through the yard, stopping in the middle of his climb to the tree house to wince, then continues. When he climbs through the tree house window and falls to the floor, he winces again. George, who had already gotten up the ladder, helped Harold up and they went and sat down, George on the beanbag, and Harold on the hammock. 

"So. What did you need to talk about?" George asks his friend who winces again. 

"I have something to tell you..something important.."

"Is it a comic idea? Prank idea?" 

"No. It's much more important than those.."

"What? Very little things are more important to you than those."

"I know...."

"So what is it?"

"George..i never told you, but..before my dad left, I was in a car crash."

"What!?"

"Calm down. I survived!" 

Harold mumbled a last word that George didn't hear.

"What?"

"I only barely survived. I was impailed by glass and it didn't hit my heart, but it did hit my left lung."

"How are you alive!?"

"I had two surgeries."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because..i think the wound reopened when Mr. Meaner was beating me with the racket." Harold said it slowly, trying not to alarm George.

It failed.

"What!? Harold, you mean your lung is open and it's been open for a whole week!?" Harold nods and George looks at the floor, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. "That's why you coughed up blood? That's why you've been in so much pain? And you didn't tell me?!" Harold flinches.

"It hurts only when I stretch my arms too much or my chest gets hit or pushed or I laugh to hard." Harold trys to calm George down.

"And how many times has that happened?" Harold thinks for a moment before walking over the the window and motions for George to follow. He does and Harold leads George to his room and closes the door. He points to the tallies under Strikes and George counts them. "32!? Harold, that's bad!" Harold says nothing and puts 3 more tallies for the times he winced in the time he was in the tree house.

"35!? Harold! You are not okay!" Harold puts his hands up. 

"I'm fine, George. It's just a little pain. I can handle it." George flails his arms. 

"No! You can't! Harold, we need to tell your mom-!" 

"No!!" Harold interrupts George with terror clear on his face. "I can't tell her! I don't want to worry her again!" George narrows his eyes at his friend.

"'Again'? What do mean 'again'?" Harold looks down. 

"When the crash happened, she was really worried. I was her only child at the time..and...when my dad left, before I met you, I was just a shell. I was hollow. I had no emotion. I didn't laugh, or even smile, and it worried my mom a lot. And..after the surgeries, i was in a coma for 2 weeks..she's worried about me enough. She doesn't need this, too." George takes multiple moments to take that in and to make a decision. He eventually does.

"We need to tell your mom." George's voice is serious, but a tinge of concern can be made out. 

"Will you come with me?" The blonde boy asks, his voice getting higher due to his anxiety rising.

"I will." George nods.


End file.
